pileofcrapola

NEW YORK (AP) — A mother who left her newborn baby in a Christmas manger inside a New York City church will not be prosecuted, authorities said Wednesday.

“After a full review of all the facts and circumstances surrounding the discovery of a newborn infant this past Monday in a creche inside of Holy Child Jesus Church in the Richmond Hill section of Queens County – including locating and interviewing the mother – my office has determined that no criminal prosecution of the child’s mother is warranted,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.

It was around 11:30 a.m. when a custodian at the church left the empty chapel to get lunch. When he returned shortly after 1 p.m., he heard a baby crying, but saw no one else around.

That’s when, New York City police said, the custodian turned to a nativity scene in the front of the church and saw a newborn baby wrapped in towels laying in the manger. Church pastor Christopher Heanue wrote on the church’s Facebook page that the baby was a boy and weighed a little more than 5 pounds.

Emergency crews brought the newborn to a local hospital, where he was in good health, police said.

New York has a so-called safe haven law that says a newborn can be dropped off anonymously at a church, hospital, police or fire station without fear of prosecution. But the law, known as the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, requires that the child be left with someone or for authorities to be called immediately.

Police said that didn’t happen in this case, which led investigators to begin searching for the mother.

In deciding not to bring charges, Brown said the mother followed the spirit of the Safe Haven law.

“It appears that the mother, in this case, felt her newborn child would be found safely in the church and chose to place the baby in the manger because it was the warmest place in the church, and further she returned the following morning to make certain that the baby had been found,” Brown said.

The post Mother who left baby in NYC nativity manger won’t be charged appeared first on WTOP.

VIRGNIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Navy documents say that two SEALs who drowned in a Virginia training pool were practicing holding their breath underwater after being told not to do so by the facility’s manager.

The Virginian-Pilot reports (http://bit.ly/1PPpw6R ) that it obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Thirty-four-year-old Brett Allen Marihugh of Livonia, Michigan, and 32-year-old Seth Cody Lewis of Queens, New York, died in April at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in April.

A report by Rear Adm. Brian Losey, commander of Navy Special Warfare Command, said the men “drowned during off-hour physical conditioning in a combat swimmer trainer facility because they knowingly disregarded breath holding safety guidance.” He wrote that such activity should take place only under supervision and with appropriate life-saving equipment on hand.

The post Report: SEALs drowned while practicing holding their breath appeared first on WTOP.

RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) — A 94-year-old San Francisco Bay area U.S. park ranger says she has been asked to light the National Christmas tree at the White House.

KGO-TV reports (http://abc7ne.ws/1HoIsqw) Betty Soskin says she was absolutely stunned by last week’s invitation.

Soskin works as an interpretive ranger at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond.

The Richmond resident is the oldest full-time park ranger in the country.

Not only will she light the tree next Thursday at the White House she will also introduce President Barack Obama.

Soskin made headlines two years ago when she complained about the government furlough saying at her age she didn’t have time to waste sitting at home.

The post Oldest US park ranger to light White House Christmas tree appeared first on WTOP.

RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) — A 94-year-old San Francisco Bay area U.S. park ranger says she has been asked to light the National Christmas tree at the White House.

KGO-TV reports (http://abc7ne.ws/1HoIsqw) Betty Soskin says she was absolutely stunned by last week’s invitation.

Soskin works as an interpretive ranger at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond.

The Richmond resident is the oldest full-time park ranger in the country.

Not only will she light the tree next Thursday at the White House she will also introduce President Barack Obama.

Soskin made headlines two years ago when she complained about the government furlough saying at her age she didn’t have time to waste sitting at home.

The post Oldest US park ranger to light White House Christmas tree appeared first on WTOP.

As a growing number of Walmart employees began demanding higher wages, with some also calling for workers to unionize, the nation’s largest retailer hired one of the world’s largest defense contractors to follow the online activities of critical employees.

A lengthy report from Bloomberg Businessweek details Walmart’s multi-pronged approach to keeping track of its employees in response to rising pro-union sentiment, like calling the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces when it learned that supporters of the Occupy movement might protest Walmart HQ.

The part that really caught our attention was Walmart’s use of Lockheed Martin, a company associated more with fighter jets than labor disputes.

But since 2011, the folks at Lockheed’s data analytics division have offered a product called LM Wisdom, which the company’s own brochure [PDF] markets as a tool for fighting things like drug/guns/human trafficking, organized crime, and gang violence, but which Walmart used in 2012 and 2013 to track Walmart staffers.

According to testimony in a recent National Labor Relations Board case involving Walmart’s alleged history of retaliating against employees who protest, the retailer’s global security division hired Lockheed leading up to Black Friday 2012 “to help source open social media sites.”

Lockheed analysts would follow the Twitter and Facebook feeds of employees and then report company-related activity back to Walmart HQ in Bentonville. The retailer was also kept up to date on the actions of non-employee organizers and activists who took part in protests. The defense contractor also helped prepare a map of likely routes for five “Ride for Respect” bus caravans destined for a protest at HQ.

While it may be creepy for Walmart to spend so much time and effort following the legally protected actions of its employees, there is nothing inherently illegal about tracking someone’s public social media feed. If you write something where anyone can read it, don’t expect your employer to turn a blind eye.

And some who were monitored tell Bloomberg they knew that Walmart was following their every public statement.

“I sent a couple of fake Tweets about where we would be or what we were doing. I don’t know if it worked,” says one employee who was fired in 2012 and is now working for OUR Walmart. “I wonder how people feel about Walmart wasting money by hiring Lockheed Martin to read my Tweets. I wouldn’t be happy about that if I was a shareholder.”

But if Walmart used this information for the purpose of punishing dissident employees, then it may have crossed the line. In 2014, the NLRB accused the retailer of retaliating against nearly 70 employees — 20 of whom were fired — who took part in the 2012 protests.

Walmart maintains these were not punitive measures against employees who exercised their right to protest, but were instead about enforcing the company’s attendance policies.

How Walmart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce [Bloomberg Businessweek]

The Christmas show will go on this year at the home of one Idaho man who takes a next-level approach to the holiday: his local homeowner’s association has decided it won’t sue him over his display, which in the past included hundreds of lights, a live camel, carolers and of course, Santa Claus.

The HOA and a local law firm told the homeowner after his first event in 2014 that the light show went against clauses in his home agreement including noise levels, excessive brightness and nuisance, reports KREM-2.

On Oct. 26, the board sent the man a letter threatening to sue if he put on his Christmas light show for the second year, and gave him 10 days to respond before legal action was taken. The clock ticked onward and past that deadline, and no lawsuit had been filed.

The vice president of the HOA board said Tuesday that the group wouldn’t be suing, noting that they hadn’t been opposed to the decorations. Instead, they had a beef with the extra traffic and noise the event would bring to the area.

“I’m really pleased to hear that they’re moving beyond this threat of litigation. I think the reason is obvious. That is that I never violated any rules,” the homeowner told the new station. He added that last year’s event was also a fundraiser, allowing him to donate hundreds of dollars to local children’s charities.

HOA backs down from lawsuit over Hayden Christmas lights [KREM-2]

One of our favorite Black Friday trends that’s been spreading across the country is the animal shelter doorbuster: that is, busting adoptable animals out from behind animal shelter doors and into new and loving homes. The promos use the idea of “Black Friday” to push pets with black and white fur to create super-cuddly sale events where adoption fees are waived.

This year, the event even has a corporate sponsor: accessories and apparel seller Zappos is sponsoring adoption fees at Best Friends Animal Society shelters and other affiliated shelters and rescues across the country.

Here’s a selection of promos you’ll find across the country:

Bonnie Hays Small Animal Shelter, Hillsboro, OR: $10 adoption fees on all cats that are black or black and white.
BrightSide Animal Center, Redmond, OR: They’re calling it a “cuddlebuster” special, with 50% off all cats and dogs with black or mostly-black fur.
Clark County Humane Society, Neillsville, WI: No adoption fees on any cats or dogs through Monday, November 30. Sponsored by Zappos.
HumaneCNY, Liverpool, NY: Adoption fees waived Friday and Saturday for cats and dogs over 1 year old.
Idaho Humane Society, Boise, ID: 50% off adoption fees until noon, and 25% off from noon to 6 PM.

Humane Society of Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, FL: Opening an hour early; adoptions will be free for some pets during that “doorbuster” hour. Half off regular price for the rest of the day.
Jacksonville Humane Society, Beach Boulevard, FL: No adoption fees Friday through Saturday; other fees like dog licenses may apply.
SBK Animal Shelter, Blountville and Kingsport, TN: $20 off adoption fees on black cats and dogs.
Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter, Georgetown, TX: No adoption fees on any cats or dogs through Monday, November 30. Sponsored by Zappos.

At the beginning of this week, we took inspiration from reader Tom’s photo of a margarine tub, and asked our readers to send in your favorite funny store-brand product names. They could be fanciful or funny in their descriptive bluntness: they just had to be funny. You submitted plenty: let’s unload this grocery cart of amusement.

From Canada, Daniel sent along his favorite store-brand lemon-lime sodas: President’s Choice Spritz Up, and IGA’s Choose Up.

Hy-Top’s Panburger Partner is perfect, somehow inventing the perfect name for ground hamburger and pasta in a pan.

Spooki sent along Price Chopper’s Nutty Nuggets, which are store-brand Grape Nuts.

Michael found versions of Chex at Market Basket that are quite descriptive.

Another submission from up Ty north: this IGA version of Froot Loops is called “Fruity Hoops” in English and “Fruits Rigolos” (Funny Fruits) in French, leaving us to wonder what the French word for “Froot” is.

Another unhealthy cereal choice over at Aldi is Cocoa Peanut Butter Spheres, which is a classic right up there with Crispy Hexagons.

There’s something about creating generic alternatives for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter that bring out the best and worst in marketers.

Melissa sent along two, Fareway’s “Could it be Butter?”

Making your product’s name a question invites people to say “no,” which may not be what they intended. Isn’t the point here to not be butter?

She also points out Hy-Vee’s version, Best Thing Since Butter, which is a spread that contains some dairy.

All of the good names must have been trademarked by the time Acme got in the game. Robin sent this picture along:

This week’s pet of the week is KitKat, a 10-year-old cat who is very loved by the family that adopted her some time ago.

The love between KitKat and her family is mutual, as she loves to cuddle and be pat. She also likes to play and keeps a watchful eye on her home from her perch on a windowsill.

Here’s what KitKat’s family had to say about the cuddly cat:

Hi! My name is KitKat and I’m a 10-year-old manx (no tail) cat, currently living in the Aurora Hills neighborhood in Arlington. My family found me at the animal shelter many years ago. I remember the day they came in to see me. We went to a special room and I was very friendly because I knew I wanted to go home with them. Sure enough, they came back and took me home!

The first night, they were told to put me in a small room for the night until I got used to being in a house. Well, I found a lot to do with toilet paper, and it wasn’t even Halloween! The next day I had full run of the house and have been sleeping and playing everywhere since.

I love it when my family comes home. I almost always greet them at the door, unless I happen to be in a very deep sleep. I like to flop down on the floor and get a belly rub, and I really like it when they rub my chin. There is a nice window to the backyard where I get to watch squirrels and birds. Sometimes another cat comes to visit me, but I usually scare them away. I am queen of my house!

Sometimes, my dad brings me toys from outside that I like to chase around the kitchen floor.  My mom throws treats to me and sometimes I catch them. I have a good life! I also like to snuggle on the couch and in bed at night with my people. They are always telling me how adorable I am. Even visitors tell me I’m cute, so I am very nice to them too. I bring much joy to my family!

Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email arlingtonnews@gmail.com with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A 13-year-old clouded leopard at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo has died.

The zoo announced Wednesday that the male clouded leopard, known as Tai, was euthanized on Tuesday. Veterinarians were conducting a routine exam when they discovered the leopard had numerous life-threatening tumors.

Tai had lived on the zoo’s Asia Trail since it opened in 2006. The zoo also has a female clouded leopard named Mook. The two leopards lived together but did not produce any offspring.

The zoo says the median life expectancy for a clouded leopard in captivity in 13 years.

Clouded leopards are native to China and southeast Asia and are considered a threatened species.

The post Clouded leopard dies at Smithsonian’s National Zoo appeared first on WTOP.

Prince William County crime report Washington Post These were among incidents reported by Prince William County police. For information, call 703-792-7245. BRISTOW AREA. THEFT/BREAK-IN. Merrimont Trace Cir., 9400 block, 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 8. A bike was stolen from a residence entered through an open ... and more »

Two months ago, reports from banks indicated that there may have been a credit card breach from the payment systems in on-site stores, coffee shops, and restaurants in Hilton-owned hotels. Reservation and payment systems for hotel rooms were not affected. Hilton confirmed the breach late yesterday, warning customers who had used payment cards to check their statements.

Security researcher Brian Krebs noticed the announcement, which came out after business hours. The breach started last year, and Hilton says that their investigation indicates that cards taken were used between November 18 and December 5, 2014, and between April 21 and July 27, 2015. The card data taken included names, card numbers, security codes, and expiration dates, but not PINs from cards that had them, or other personal data about cardholders.

Hilton encourages people who may have shopped, dined, or picked up a coffee in shops inside their hotels to check their statements for suspicious activity, and to contact their bank if they find any. They are also offering the obligatory year of free credit monitoring that isn’t all that useful if someone has your credit card number.

What they did not do is specify which of their many brands were affected: Hilton-owned hotels range from the Waldorf-Astoria to your neighborhood Hampton Inn.

If this story sounds sort of familiar, it’s not because we’re in pre-holiday reruns: it’s because just last week Starwood Hotels announced a similar breach that may have affected points of sale in gift shops and restaurants in their hotels between November 2014 and October 2015.

Hilton Acknowledges Credit Card Breach [Krebs on Security]
Hilton Worldwide Has Identified and Taken Action to Eradicate Malware [Hilton]

WASHINGTON — Fairfax County has a new rule: Don’t tie up your pup for more than an hour.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to add the Code of Virginia’s cruelty to animals provisions to the Fairfax County Code. This includes the rule on tethering — tying your dog’s leash to something  — limiting it to an hour during any 24-hour period unless you’re around.

There are exceptions, according to the amendment, so if you’re in direct supervision of your pet or if you have adequate space for it, as defined by the cruelty to animal provisions, you’re in the clear.

Fairfax County is not the first to implement this kind of law. Arlington and Fauquier counties, as well as the cities of Fairfax and Alexandria, have tethering laws on the books as well. The penalties work like this: a first violation will cost you up to $500. A second violation could run you up to $1,000 or up to six months in jail. Any further violations are punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and/or up to one year in jail.

The post New rules in Fairfax Co. target ‘tethered’ dogs appeared first on WTOP.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens have claimed quarterback Jimmy Clausen off waivers to serve as backup to Matt Schaub.

To make room for Clausen on the roster, the Ravens placed quarterback Joe Flacco on injured reserve Tuesday.

Flacco tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee Sunday in a 16-13 win over St. Louis and is lost for the season. Schaub will be the starter on Monday night at Cleveland.

Clausen was waived by the Bears on Monday. He played in two games with Chicago this season, starting once.

The six-year veteran was chosen by Carolina in the second round of the 2010 draft after playing college ball at Notre Dame.

Clausen has played in 19 games, starting 12. He has five touchdown passes and 11 interceptions over his career.

___

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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NBC4 Washington

Dog Lover Shares Nightmare Story About Closed Virginia Shop Dreamy Puppy NBC4 Washington A Northern Virginia pet store that was raided Monday by Animal Control is now in trouble with Fairfax County inspectors. News4's Julie Carey talks to customers about the latest developments. (Published Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015). An animal lover says she ... and more »

DC Animal Watch Washington Post These cases were handled by the Washington Humane Society, which operates its shelter at 7319 Georgia Ave. NW, and the District's, at 1201 New York Ave. NE. For information or assistance, call 202-723-5730 or go to www.washhumane.org. Kitten seeks ... and more »

Alexandria and Arlington Animal Watch Washington Post These cases were among the calls reported recently by the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, which provides animal control services to the city. For information or to report emergencies involving animals 24 hours a day, call 703-746-4774. The league ... and more »

Loudoun County Animal Watch Washington Post These were among cases received by the Loudoun County Department of Animal Services. For information on the animal shelter's hours and location, adoption and licensing, rabies clinics and low-cost neutering, call 703-777-0406 in eastern Loudoun or ... and more »

In 2008, DHL abandoned its domestic shipping operations in the United States, putting thousands of employees out of work and leaving behind a very nice air cargo facility at a decommissioned air base in Ohio. A company started using the base recently, shipping unspecified “consumer goods,” but no one will identify who it is. One likely suspect is Amazon.

Amazon? In the cargo business? It makes sense if you remember Christmas of 2013, when Amazon’s carriers failed to deliver a percentage of last-minute gifts that the retailer found unacceptable. Since the 2013 late delivery debacle, the retailer has been looking to diversify its selection of shipping carriers, perform some of its own deliveries, and hire independent contractors to make deliveries in their own cars. They want to depend on existing major carriers less.

Vice’s Motherboard did some fab reporting and dot-connecting, noting that the four flights per day land at two airports that are 60 miles from Amazon distribution centers, and two airports that are only 20 miles from distribution centers. A spokesperson from Air Transport Services Group, which Mystery Company has hired to handle the operation, said that the freight is “consumer goods” and that he couldn’t elaborate further.

Could the facility belong to some other mysterious consumer goods company? Sure. Yet the possibilities are interesting: could Amazon have its own version of FedEx SmartPost, where they move packages around the country and then turn them over to the U.S. Postal Service to deliver to customers’ doorsteps? That would be a good option. A cargo service could also be a money-making operation, much like Amazon’s server-rental services.

A Secretive Air Cargo Operation Is Running in Ohio, and Signs Point to Amazon [Motherboard]

We all want to believe that there are special coupons out there just waiting to be grabbed, and the newest questionable offer to take hold of Facebook newsfeeds involves the false promise of a coupon that will magically grant you 50% off anything at Target.

As you can see above, folks are sharing a link from a site called grab-coupons.com, with an image of this supposed coupon offering half off your Target purchase through the end of the year with no exceptions and very few qualifications.

If it sounds too good to be true, it is. A rep for Target HQ confirms to Consumerist that there is no such coupon and this is a fake.

So why the trickery?

Clicking on the link takes you out of Facebook to a page with instructions on how to “Get Your Target Reward!”

Given the spare design, the fact that it’s not a Target site and that all you supposedly have to do is like something on Facebook, you should be suspicious.

Missing from that second screengrab is a third step — hitting a heavily pixelated “Like” button, which doesn’t actually “like” anything on Facebook, but takes you to… a site where you supposedly get rewarded for taking surveys:

But it’s not as simple as taking a survey. The only way to actually get the Target gift card (which is decidedly not the same as a 50% off coupon), is to complete the “purchase requirement,” which is detailed in microprint below:

So you have to register (10 points), respond to the survey (20 points), review “optional offers” (30 points), and then buy at least one of those special offers, which “usually requires a purchase or entering into a paid subscription program for goods or services.”

And there we have it. All that work to get you to sign up to some sort of subscription service (best of luck trying to cancel it), to maybe receive a gift card from a third-party company you’ve never heard of, for a promotion that Target denies exists.

In short, please stop perpetuating these sketchy sites on Facebook. It annoys your friends who know better and only confuses things for people who think they might be getting a good deal.

Did you find this post useful? We’re a non-profit and don’t accept advertising from any retailers! You can get more stories like this in our twice-weekly ad-free newsletter. Click here to sign up.

Amid accusations that its Global Energy Balance Network was little more than a Coca-Cola-funded shill using real doctors to downplay the role of sugary drinks in the current obesity epidemic, the University of Colorado School of Medicine recently returned a $1 million donation to the beverage biggie. But newly revealed e-mails show the direct influence that Coke bought with this supposed anti-obesity organization.

The AP has uncovered a number of e-mails between the president of GEBN — a Colorado med school professor — and Coke’s chief health and science officer that demonstrate the soda company’s intention with funding an organization that rightly stressed the importance of exercise and balance diets but deliberately attempted to remove the yoke of blame from Coca-Cola.

• An Oct. 2012 e-mail refers to the upcoming donation from Coca-Cola as a “stimulus package” and makes it clear to the future GEBN president that its “non-negotiable” that he collaborate with private industry.

• The next month, Coke writes to provide researchers with talking points about a Coke-funded study they were working on. The company also offers them media training to get the researchers more camera-friendly.

• In July 2014, the Coke exec likens the goal of the GEBN to “a political campaign, we will develop, deploy and evolve a powerful and multi-faceted strategy to counter radical organizations and their proponents.”

The hope was to make GEBN “the place the media goes to for comment on any obesity issue.”

• Then in Nov. 2014, the GEBN president clearly demonstrates his support for his corporate sponsor.

“It is not fair that Coca-Cola is signaled out as the #1 villain in the obesity world, but that is the situation and makes this your issue whether you like it or not,” he writes in an e-mail obtained by the AP. “I want to help your company avoid the image of being a problem in peoples’ lives and back to being a company that brings important and fun things to them.”

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent is effectively shrugging off the e-mails, saying “it has become clear to us that there was not a sufficient level of transparency with regard to the company’s involvement with the Global Energy Balance Network.”

Before the returning of the Coca-Cola donation, the GEBN’s ethics and motives were questioned because of videos like the one below, featuring the GEBN vice president blaming the media for linking obesity to high-calorie foods, declaring that there “virtually no compelling evidence that that, in fact, is the cause.”

APNewsBreak: Emails Reveal Coke’s Role in Anti-Obesity Group [AP]

Excerpts from emails between Coke, anti-obesity group [AP]

Here’s a tip that we hope you never have to use: after a house fire, make sure not to hire just anyone who shows up at your doorstep and says that your insurance company sent them. One woman in California learned that the hard way, signing a contract with a dry-cleaning company that showed up claiming to be from her insurer. They weren’t. Instead, she got a $17,000 bill that her policy wouldn’t cover.

You don’t normally think of dry cleaners as predators, but this company were. How did they find the homeowner in the first place? The dry cleaning company says that they were referred by Servicemaster, a company that puts properties back in order after disasters like fires, and that the woman’s insurance company approved of the referral.

The company specializes in cleaning textiles after disasters, and after a fire will clean the smoke smell out of clothing. The woman signed a contract put in front of her without reading it, saying that she didn’t have her glasses handy. Her insurance company sent the textile people, so they should be okay and their services should be covered, right? Well, no. They didn’t send them or provide a referral. That’s where things get confusing.

Servicemaster agrees with the textile company’s version of events, but the insurance company, State Farm, does not. “Any customer with a claim should consult with their claim representative first, prior to signing a contract with a vendor for service,” the insurer told CBS Sacramento, where the consumer watchdog reporter tried to intervene and figure out what happened.

If the vendor shows up claiming to come from your insurnace company but doesn’t name that insurance company, that’s a bad sign. You should also know your own insurance coverage: the representatives told the homeowner and her granddaughter that she had a rider which covers textile cleaning services after a fire, but she didn’t. Sometimes people can use insurance on the contents of their home to cover such bills, but she didn’t have enough insurance to cover her hoe and its contents. She didn’t have $17,000 in cash sitting around, either.

It’s not clear that reading the contract would have helped when the company showed up at her doorstep on a false premise, but the contract did spell out that she’d be responsible for any balance that her insurance company didn’t cover.

Attention from a local TV station brought the company’s bill down to $4,000, but that’s still a lot of money if you simply don’t have it. If the company really did misrepresent how they were referred and that the woman had a textile-cleaning rider, they may have broken California law. The problem would be proving that they were preying on fire victims on purpose, not just working from bad information from the cleanup company that referred them.

Call Kurtis: My House Burned Down and I Got Ripped Off [CBS Sacramento]

An in-demand toy for this holiday season has really got into kids’ heads — or rather, onto their heads, where they can remain for quite some time as parents struggle to free them from youngsters’ hair.

They’re called Bunchems, and it’s a neat concept — interlocking, squishy, plastic, spherical little bursts that can be used to construct whatever the kid imagines. But a number of parents say that the joy of Bunchems is spoiled when they end up in kids’ hair.

“A Toy Spawned From the Darkest Depths of Hell,” reads one Amazon review (see photo to the right) of Bunchems, detailing the more than two hours spent extracting “14 of these bastard balls out of my daughter’s hair.”

“Great if you want to pay $200 to have them professionally removed from the hair,” reads another. “I am a hairstylist and spent a total of 4 hours removing these from a little girl’s hair today! She had 45 of them matted into her hair!”

In the above video, NBC Los Angeles put some Bunchems in a wig and confirmed that the tiny toys do indeed instantly latch on to your locks, and they don’t come free very easy.

The folks behind Bunchems defend their product, saying there’s a clear warning on the box to keep the toy away from hair (best of luck if your kid has long tresses). The company even has the following video to demonstrate how to more easily remove the snaggle-hooked toy from hair:

In a statement to NBC, the makers of Bunchems say that feedback for the product has been overwhelmingly positive. But the above video on removing the toy from kids’ hair has been viewed more than 250,000 times since August, indicating that maybe more than a few parents are having this trouble.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia church known as the “Cathedral of the Confederacy” is shedding images reflecting its ties to the Confederacy.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond is removing plaques with versions of the Confederate flag and the church’s coat of arms, among other remnants of the Confederacy.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1XnSppV) reports that church leaders say they also hope to erect a memorial to honor slaves in Richmond, including those who were members of St. Paul’s.

Windows depicting Confederate icons Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis as biblical characters will remain untouched.

Lee and his wife attended services at St. Paul’s throughout the war, and Davis became a member in 1862.

St. Paul’s is located within the shadow of the Virginia state Capitol and within blocks of the former Confederate White House.

___

Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com

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WASHINGTON — A kitten who was found shivering in a Fairfax County storm drain will soon be looking for a forever home.

According to a video posted Monday on the county’s YouTube page, volunteers heard cries coming from outside the Fairfax County Animal Shelter on West Ox Road. There, a white kitten — who has been named Jaxom — was found in a storm drain, most likely abandoned by someone, according to the video.

The 4-week-old kitten was taken to Pender Veterinary Centre for emergency treatment.

Jaxom has since made progress in his healing, and has moved in with foster volunteer Dana Grimm until he’s ready for adoption.

In the video, Grimm says Jaxom is now 8 weeks old, and is eating a combination of formula and wet food. He had pink eye and fleas when she took him in, and still has a little bare spot on his belly.

“I’m hoping that he’ll find a very happy family that maybe has a kid, because he’s very energetic and loves to play,” Grimm says. “It might also be nice if they have another cat or maybe a dog that he can play with, because he is a very energetic little monster.”

To learn more about how to adopt Jaxom or another animal in need of a home, visit Fairfax County’s website.

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Washington Post

One of the last Washington mysteries: How to get the Medal of Freedom Washington Post After Stan Musial, the St. Louis Cardinals baseball legend, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010, relatives of Yogi Berra wondered why the Yankees star hadn't been similarly honored. “I thought, 'Huh, who knows,' ” recalled Berra's ... and more »

Washington Post

DC weather balloon falls on car in Philadelphia and is mistaken for bomb Washington Post They're not tools of terrorists, but scientific instruments for improving weather predictions. Yet, somehow, a National Weather Service weather balloon launched from the office serving the District and Baltimore provoked a visit from the bomb squad ... and more »

It used to be that mobile phone customers actually talked on our phones a lot, and carriers limited our minutes while giving us unlimited data for our feature phones or Blackberries. Now, it’s the reverse: we have unlimited voice minutes, but limited data. As part of another attention-getting promotion, T-Mobile has announced that it plans to offer current Simple Choice customers unlimited LTE data for the next three months.

What’s the fine print? There’s always fine print on things like this.

Unlimited LTE: Does not include tethering. Other benefits of Unlimited LTE plan (e.g., Vudu movie rental) not included. Service may be restricted or terminated for misuse. See Open Internet page for network management practices.

No tethering, no illegal movie downloads, no using your phone to live stream your life around the clock: those are fair enough rules. Just don’t use two terabytes of data every month, or John Legere will hunt you down.

T-Mobile also promises other “surprise holiday gifts,” or special incentives to buy more stuff, for their customers and for potential switchers. They will offer special deals for current customers of each of their competitors in turn. What will those deals be? Let’s hope they’re more appealing than the data overage fees that Sprint is offering to people switching from other carriers during their “cut your bill in half” promotion.

(via 9to5Mac)

In the future, you talk to your computers. That’s what Star Trek taught us, anyway, so I’m just going to go ahead and assume it’s true. And apparently some engineers over at Google, who actually can make it so, feel the exact same way.

For those of us who grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation every week, the communicator was a bold new idea: tap a gadget on chest, or just talk to the air, and a context-sensitive computer will know exactly when you want to talk to it and, theoretically, do exactly what you ask. In the era when a one-piece Macintosh computer with a mouse was still a brand-new and very expensive gadget, the entire concept was still squarely in the realm of science fiction.

In 2015 — a world with Kinect and Cortana, Siri and Google Now — that communicator no longer seems quite so farfetched. So when Time reports that a team at Google basically made one to see what would happen, well, that seems unsurprising too.

The prototype device doesn’t have the fancy asymmetrical rounded triangle shape we’ve come to expect from the Federation, because that’s Paramount’s intellectual property. But the round device Google made does work almost the same way, using existing tech.

Basically, it’s a microphone and a Bluetooth connection, Google explained to Time. You talk to the pin, and it talks to a local smartphone. Majel Barrett sounding as synthetic as possible it isn’t, but it is as likely to return search results as basically anything else.

The point of the prototype, Time explains, was to see how people interact with their wearable tech. If you give them a pin you can tap on and talk to, with sound outputs either through an embedded speaker or to headphones, will people actually use it for quick search instead of digging their phones out of their pockets or bags? (Or, specifically, will they use it for anything other than “Beam me up” jokes?)

Google didn’t share how the research is going, so who knows if you’ll be buying your own hands-free communicator anytime soon. But improvements in voice control, natural-language interaction, and hands-free wearables are being pushed in a big way across the entire tech industry tight now. It could happen.

And why? Well, because all the nerds who make the stuff were watching TNG as kids, too.

“I always wanted that pin,” Amit Singhal, the executive in charge of Google’s search initiatives, told Time. “You just ask it anything and it works. That’s why we were like, ‘Let’s go prototype that and see how it feels.'”

Google Made a Secret Prototype That Works Like the Star Trek Communicator [Time]